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    • Budget-related bills to fund Nebraska’s property tax relief plan advance without changes • Nebraska Examiner
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    Budget-related bills to fund Nebraska’s property tax relief plan advance without changes • Nebraska Examiner

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    LINCOLN – Two budget-related bills advanced Friday to help offset the costs of Nebraska’s recent property tax relief plan.

    State Senators Lynne Walz of Fremont, Terrell McKinney of Omaha and Justin Wayne of Omaha meet outside the House floor. Aug. 16, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    Bills 2 And 3both proposed by State Senator Rob Clements of Elmwood, chairman of the Budget Committee, passed without changes Friday. State Senators Terrell McKinney and Machaela Cavanaugh, both of Omaha, tried unsuccessfully to persuade their colleagues to keep the $38.5 million funding cuts from LB 2.

    This included $25 million from the Nebraska Department of Health and $3.5 million in unspent funds for the Legislature, which Cavanaugh tried to save Wednesday. The other amount came from the Nebraska Department of Corrections, $10 million.

    “We should use these funds to improve these departments,” McKinney said. “We have water issues, we have child and family issues that need to be addressed.”

    McKinney referred to DHHS and the Department of Corrections as “harm and mischief” and “punitive” departments, respectively, and argued that both needed financial investments to improve outcomes and conditions, including water supplies, in correctional facilities.

    State Senator Wendy DeBoer of Omaha speaks with State Senator Tony Vargas of Omaha. July 26, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    He proposed using the $10 million transferred from the Department of Corrections to repair and maintain the Nebraska State Penitentiary’s water infrastructure. He and Senator Wendy DeBoer of Omaha said the state could either spend $10 million now or double that amount later.

    “It’s not rocket science,” DeBoer said.

    The legislators voted 28-15 against this amendment by McKinney. They also voted 29-15 against Cavanaugh’s amendment to reverse the three funding cuts.

    McKinney actually saved the Department of Corrections $250,000 on Wednesday in interest earned from state fees for license plates and other items produced by state prisoners.

    Clements said DHHS Executive Director Steve Corsi and Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys are in favor of the cuts that lawmakers have already pushed. Clements said Jeffreys also has not requested new funding for water system repairs.

    “The committee did consider cuts,” Clements said, “but we kept them within limits so that we didn’t cut the agencies to the bone.”

    State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, chairman of the Legislature’s Budget Committee. Aug. 7, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

    State Senator Justin Wayne of Omaha proposed a VAT exemption for household electricitysimilar to an exemption that will be extended in 2022 to another utility service: water. It would have cost the state at least $65 million and local governments $18 million.

    The MPs were one vote short, 21-17to overturn a decision by Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly that the amendment was neither relevant nor “in a natural and logical sequence” to the subject of LB 3. It required 22 votes in favor instead of the usual 25 because several senators were “present but not entitled to vote.”

    LB 2 advanced 32-8 and LB 3 advanced 32-7Together, the bills amount to $139 million in budget cuts, increased fees, Cash transfers and the retention of unspent funds from 2023-24.

    The remaining $46 million would be taken from the state’s cash reserves to finance $185 million new property tax reliefincluded in LB34which also made progress on Friday.

    The most important tax and budget laws will be subject to a final debate on Monday.

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    Madoc Meredith
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